I think my RL self is fairly congruent with my online persona-- people who knew me online first and in person later have said the only thing that really surprised them was my voice, which I think people expect to be lower. But then I talk fairly frequently about moderately personal things, so it's not going to surprise anyone that, say, I'm a leftist or a slob or five feet tall.
Most of the people I've met in RL have been pretty much what I would expect from their online persona, though I have had a few cases where, like someone said here, I couldn't access whatever it was that I liked online (if it was ever really there.) And I can think of a couple people whose online personas are bland or annoying but who are terrific in RL.
In regard to close online friendships, I once had a fairly close friendship which was conducted almost entirely over the phone-- this is unusual for me as I hate the phone, but in this case it began as a coast-to-coast business relationship, and we only met in RL recently. I've met all my closest friends in person, but there are people who are quite dear to me who I haven't ever met because we live too far apart. I wouldn't say they're my best friends, but then pen-pals rarely are; still, they're closer than a lot of RL not-so-close people.
That's not even getting into friendships which began in RL and are now conducted online or over the phone because someone moved.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 05:55 am (UTC)Most of the people I've met in RL have been pretty much what I would expect from their online persona, though I have had a few cases where, like someone said here, I couldn't access whatever it was that I liked online (if it was ever really there.) And I can think of a couple people whose online personas are bland or annoying but who are terrific in RL.
In regard to close online friendships, I once had a fairly close friendship which was conducted almost entirely over the phone-- this is unusual for me as I hate the phone, but in this case it began as a coast-to-coast business relationship, and we only met in RL recently. I've met all my closest friends in person, but there are people who are quite dear to me who I haven't ever met because we live too far apart. I wouldn't say they're my best friends, but then pen-pals rarely are; still, they're closer than a lot of RL not-so-close people.
That's not even getting into friendships which began in RL and are now conducted online or over the phone because someone moved.